Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[sseguin]

Memo: Update on Rideau Transit Group return-to-service plan: start of testing

https://www.railfans.ca/news/memo-update...-return-to-service-plan-start-of-testing

The purpose of this memo is to confirm that some test trains will begin operating on portions of the system this afternoon.

Progress continues to be made towards restoring partial Line 1 service. Under the oversight and ongoing monitoring of the independent rail safety expert, Transportation Research Associates (TRA), RTG technicians have been deployed to the site to perform critical activities including train inspections and tasks related to relaunching service on the system.

Prior to service resumption, the entire system will undergo a robust testing regime with three main areas of focus:

track and infrastructure
train testing
full system-wide tests

This testing period will commence today and continue throughout the following weeks leading up to the resumption of partial service, anticipated to launch in the first two weeks of November. Throughout this testing period, customers will see trains running at different speeds, on different sections of the track, and stopped for long periods of time. Trains will sometimes run the entire track from end-to-end and at other times may only run for short distances on the line. Trains will also often cross over between the two tracks on the line. At times, many technicians will also be on the line as they perform inspections of all components of the track and rail infrastructure.

This testing will be critical to allow TRA, RTG and the City to confirm that all the repairs on the trains, track and the infrastructure meet the quality standards required for a safe return to service and continued operations of Line 1. As previously communicated, TRA has performed their preliminary assessment of the situation and they are now in the process of developing their own detailed workplan following the receipt of RTG's proposed return-to-service date and associated workplan.

Original signed by Renée Amilcar

[GoTrans]

Originally Posted by SidetrackedSue

Can we fit pocket tracks in the trench? Cuz it is trench from Tunney's West to the NCC land along the parkway (where I doubt the NCC would allow any additional space.)

The trench looks like it could hold 3 tracks since it held 2 lanes of roadway plus shoulders.

[sseguin]

Eager to see what is said at the technical briefing they hold prior to the reopening. If it is aiming to reopen in the next 2 weeks, we should have more information very soon hopefully.

[sseguin]

O-Train Line 1 - Testing in anticipation of a return to service - October 28, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCFKEMVSV5M

[sseguin]

Memo: Update on Rideau Transit Group Return-to-Service Plan: Testing Progress

https://www.railfans.ca/news/memo-update...-return-to-service-plan-testing-progress

The purpose of this memo is to provide Members of Council and Transit Commission with an update on the Rideau Transit Group's (RTG's) testing and return-to-service plan.

As of this morning, 11 trains (22 single cars) have been inspected, with nine trains (18 single cars) tested to date under the oversight of Transportation Research Associates (TRA). The entire rail fleet continues to progress through the detailed safety certification process and the track and related infrastructure repairs are undergoing the final validation and assessments required to enable a return to revenue service.

As trains pass the inspection process, they are being operated on the tracks to verify all train system functionality prior to a final system-wide test. Over the next few days, the public will continue to see technicians on the track as well as trains travelling at various speeds, and sometimes stopped for various lengths of time while testing continues to progress.

It is anticipated that before the end of the week, a full system-wide test of Confederation Line 1 will take place over two days prior to returning to revenue service. During this time, the public will see multiple trains operating across the entire system, stopping at stations, making announcements and simulating regular revenue service operations.

Ultimately, the return-to-service day is contingent upon RTG providing, to the satisfaction of TRA and the City:

• a robust and fulsome quality assurance program
• updates to their maintenance programs and processes, to ensure that the root causes of the recent derailments are fully addressed.

With this continued progress and contingent upon the completion of RTG's return-to-service plan and TRA's and the City's concurrence, it is anticipated that we will be able to provide a technical briefing with TRA before the end of the week, which is a Council requirement prior to the resumption of revenue service.

The plan remains to resume a partial return to service with seven (7) trains and two (2) spares in the first two weeks of November, and to incrementally expand service throughout the month of November.

Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

Source : City of Ottawa

[rocketphish]

System-wide test of Confederation Line expected this week, city says

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 01, 2021 • 5 minutes ago • 3 minute read

End-to-end testing of the LRT system could happen by the end of the week as the city moves closer to reopening its multibillion-dollar rail line after the September derailment.

OC Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar told council and transit commissioners via memo on Monday that the city anticipates system-wide testing will happen over two days by the end of the week. During the testing, the LRT system will simulate service with Alstom Citadis Spirit trains stopping at stations and announcements being played over station speakers.

According to Amilcar, 11 double-car trains had been inspected as of Monday morning. Nine of those trains had been tested under the oversight of TRA, the Philadelphia-based transportation consultant hired by the city to make sure the return-to-service program will produce a safe and reliable LRT system.

“The entire rail fleet continues to progress through the detailed safety certification process and the track and related infrastructure repairs are undergoing the final validation and assessments required to enable a return to revenue service,” Amilcar said in her memo.

Amicar said people might see trains travelling at various speeds and occasionally stop during the inspection process over the coming days. Workers are preparing the trains and rail infrastructure for the end-to-end test.

The city still expects to open the LRT system with seven trains operating on the line at some point in the first two weeks of the month, but Amilcar didn’t provide an exact date. The city hasn’t committed to a reopening date during the closure.

A full peak-service Stage 1 LRT system — the system for which taxpayers paid $2.1-billion in a fixed-price contract, plus another $115 million in contingency expenses — is 15 double-car trains running at once, with two trains in the maintenance facility.

When LRT reopens, it will only be with seven trains and two spare trains until more trains pass the safety process and return to the active fleet.

Full service could happen by the middle of December, the city has said.

The city has not yet confirmed if R1 replacement bus service will continue during partial LRT service, but transit officials have speculated that R1 might be necessary to provide enough capacity on the spine of Transpo’s network.

LRT has been out of order since the train derailment on Sept. 19. On that day, a train carrying one operator and 12 customers left the tracks near Tremblay Station, damaging rail infrastructure and the train itself. No one was injured. The city has announced that a loose bolt on a gearbox led to the derailment.

The Transportation Safety Board has been investigating the incident, along with the Aug. 8 derailment of an out-of-service train near Tunney’s Pasture Station. No one was hurt in that derailment, which happened after an axle bearing assembly overheated, severing a wheel.

Two mainline derailments in a tight timeframe have compelled the city to make sure the LRT system is safe and that the maintenance regime created by Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM) is good enough.

RTM is the maintenance division of Rideau Transit Group, which built the Confederation Line. RTM has a 30-year LRT maintenance contract with the city.

The city has vowed to hold a technical briefing for council members, transit commissioners and journalists before reopening the LRT system so everyone knows what goes into making sure the rail line is safe for customers.

Amilcar’s memo said the city expects to hold that briefing by the end of the week, signalling to the public that the LRT system is nearing a reopening. TRA officials will be part of the briefing.

There was still no indication on Monday if the city will go through with free fares on the entire transit network in December. Council has authorized the free month, with the mayor and other councillors hoping it would entice people to try the transit system during their holiday shopping and merrymaking.

However, there’s a risk of opening fare gates on the LRT system without a full fleet of trains available, especially if there’s a big uptake in the city’s free-transit offer. Transpo still needs to provide the capacity required to get people to their jobs while trying to encourage physical distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...ration-line-expected-this-week-says-city

[J.OT13]

In Watson's budget speech today, the City will fund a study a "VIA Rail-Train Yards multiuse pathway". I assume that would mean a tunnel or pedestrian bridge to connect both sides of the tracks.

[SL123]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

In Watson's budget speech today, the City will fund a study a "VIA Rail-Train Yards multiuse pathway". I assume that would mean a tunnel or pedestrian bridge to connect both sides of the tracks.

This is a huge missing piece for Tremblay Station. if this is indeed what its referencing than its great news

[rocketphish]

Province sets out conditions to release $60 million in funding for problem-plagued LRT
In a memo Wednesday, city manager Steve Kanellakos said the letter "appears to be in keeping with standard due diligence by the province."

Megan Gillis, Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 04, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 2 minute read



The Ontario government won’t release a $60-million “hold back” in light rail funding until it receives written assurances that problems with the Confederation Line have been addressed.

A letter Tuesday from the director of the Ministry of Transportation’s capital project oversight branch to the City of Ottawa’s director of rail construction noted “at least three issues” that had come to the attention of the Transportation Safety Board.

As required by a 2011 contribution agreement, “we would like assurances that provincial funding is being used for assets and infrastructure that are safe and meet industry standards,” the letter said.

Ontario has committed up to $600 million for LRT Stage 1 and up to $1.208 billion for the LRT Stage 2, the letter said.

Before releasing the $60 million, the ministry wants assurances on three fronts.

The first, with a deadline of Dec. 31, 2022, is that the TSB investigation into cracked wheels launched in July 2020 is done and the city has addressed any board recommendations or has a plan do so.

Second, also by the end of next year, that the TSB reviews of derailments in August and September of this year are done and the city has either addressed any recommendations or has a plan to do so.

Thirdly, the province wants an attestation from an independent engineer confirming that the engineering and construction work is up to industry standards.

In a memo Wednesday, city manager Steve Kanellakos said the letter “appears to be in keeping with standard due diligence by the province.” It is seeking details of “actions that the city is already undertaking to hold its contractor to account and to ensure the provision of safe, reliable transit in Ottawa,” he wrote.

Kanellakos also fielded questions from reporters about the province’s letter , which, he noted, arrived in the inboxes of city officials just before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday as they were preparing for draft budget day on Wednesday.

“I don’t believe that $60-million holdback is in jeopardy at all,” Kanellakos said, anticipating a “positive response” to the letter by the city.

Kanellakos said the issues the province brought up in the letter would be addressed, thanks in part to the expert review by TRA, the Philadelphia-based transportation consultant hired by the city to review the return-to-service program.

City staff will have a full response to the provincial government and will update city council on both the response and return-to-service work this week, Kanellakos said.

The Confederation Line has been out of service since a Sept. 19 derailment, with replacement bus service running. End-to-end testing for a relaunch could happen by the end of the week .

During the testing, the LRT system will simulate service with Alstom Citadis Spirit trains stopping at stations and announcements being played over station speakers.

The city still expects to open the LRT system with seven trains operating on the line at some point in the first two weeks of the month, but officials haven’t provide an exact date. The city hasn’t committed to a reopening date during the closure.

A full peak-service Stage 1 LRT system is 15 double-car trains running at once, with two trains in the maintenance facility.

Full service could happen by the middle of December, the city has said.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...llion-in-funding-for-problem-plagued-lrt

[lrt's friend]

What is the definition of full service? In theory, that should be 15 trains, but with everything that has happened in the last 2 years, it could be significantly less.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

What is the definition of full service? In theory, that should be 15 trains, but with everything that has happened in the last 2 years, it could be significantly less.

According to this article, they mean 15 trains running.

[rocketphish]

TSB finds 'incomplete maintenance' caused Ottawa LRT derailment
Skipped steps, inadequate paperwork, lack of oversight led to derailment, TSB says

CBC News
Posted: Nov 04, 2021 5:32 PM ET | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) says the September derailment of an Ottawa light rail train was caused by improperly tightened bolts, according to a letter sent to the city on Tuesday.

In a memo to city council and the transit commission, city manager Steve Kanellakos said the city agrees with the board's findings.

"The root cause of the derailment was due to inconsistent and incomplete maintenance of the light rail vehicle components by Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM) at the maintenance facility," he wrote.

The LRT network has been shut down since Sept. 19 when a train derailed near Tremblay station, the second derailment on the line in roughly six weeks.

When servicing trains after the Aug. 9 derailment, staff at the RTM maintenance facility did not properly document their work, which led to a train being put back into service with loose bolts.

All 12 of the bolts in the replacement part failed after the train was only in service for 800 kilometres.

The bolts in question needed to be torqued with an electronic —, and while there were some checklists, there were none for all of the necessary safety steps.

Because maintenance steps were not followed in a consistent order and the paperwork was not adequately filled out, steps were accidentally skipped during a shift change.

There was also a lack of quality control and oversight at the time, the TSB found.

"A robust quality control system features ... checklists for the assembly or reassembly of safety critical components. Each step should be documented, signed off on and verified by supervisory staff," the TSB wrote. "This is particularly important when a job is started by one work shift and handed off to another."

The third-party review by Transportation Resource Associates (TRA) came to a similar conclusion, according to Kanellakos.

The TSB letter recommends an in-depth review of all work on important safety components for the trains, which Kanellakos says is part of the TRA's review of the Rideau Transit Group's return-to-service plan.

Details of that plan are set to be revealed at a briefing on Friday.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lrt-derailment-incomplete-maintenance-1.6237515

[rocketphish]

City assures council that LRT return-to-service review will respond to TSB findings
The city has expected the Confederation Line to reopen in the first two weeks of November. Trains were on the rail line Thursday, going through tests.

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 04, 2021 • 6 minutes ago • 3 minute read

The City of Ottawa says its LRT return-to-service probe will respond to a new finding that 12 bolts on a wheel hub weren’t torqued properly before an Alstom Citadis Spirit train derailed on Sept. 19 near Tremblay Station.

The Transportation Safety Board, which released its latest findings about the derailment to the city, found that the rail car that derailed had been through a refurbishment program following a fleet inspection related to the Aug. 8 derailment near Tunney’s Pasture Station.

“(The affected train car) was repaired and released from a shop only to have a safety-critical component fail and cause a serious accident within 5 days of its release,” TSB wrote in a safety letter sent to the city on Tuesday.

“This accident has demonstrated that there can be serious consequences resulting from the inconsistent and incomplete maintenance of safety-critical components on a (light rail vehicle) in commuter passenger service. Therefore, (the LRT program) may wish to conduct an in-depth review of all work performed on safety-critical components to confirm that procedures are followed and that there is sufficient oversight in place to prevent a similar occurrence from happening again.”

The TSB wants to know what the Ottawa LRT program is doing in response to the findings.

The city and its consultant, TRA, are scheduled to hold a technical briefing on Friday to go over the LRT return-to-service program.

The city has expected the Confederation Line to reopen in the first two weeks of November. Trains were again on the rail line Thursday, going through tests.

City manager Steve Kanellakos told council in a memo that the review suggested by the TSB was part of the ongoing work by the city’s consultant.

The train car involved in the September derailment was one of nine identified for refurbishment after the August derailment. The refurbishment focused on wheel cartridge assemblies. The train car involved in the September derailment had three loose cartridge assemblies requiring remediation. One of the cartridges was at the wheel position where the 12 bolts weren’t torqued properly.

The rail vehicle with the loose bolts travelled about 800 kilometres between the time it was released after refurbishment and the time of the September derailment, the TSB learned.

A gearbox broke off the train. The derailment also destroyed a signal mast and switch heater, while other infrastructure, including the Tremblay Station north passenger platform, showed signs of impact.

The investigation uncovered multiple areas of missed maintenance work in Rideau Transit Maintenance operations, which rely heavily on Alstom workers.

The TSB found no torque marks on the gearbox surface in the area of the missing oil plug. Only one litre of the 6.1 litres of oil required to fill the gearbox oil was recovered from the component. Gearboxes are supposed to be checked for oil leaks before they are released from the maintenance facility.

According to the TSB, Alstom staff often perform work out of sequence and don’t document the steps. The TSB says a critical step can be missed, such as torquing bolts.

The TSB also found there was evidence that Alstom hadn’t been following its own procedures when it came to bolts holding together the splined axle stub and wheel hub.

Alstom requires that bolts aren’t reused, “although reuse of bolts on this component was previously noted by Alstom on 19 October 2020,” the TSB noted in its letter.

The TSB has set the derailment as a Class 5 investigation, with the agency focused on gathering data. In comparison, TSB investigations between Class 1 and Class 4 have higher levels of effort and investment.

Neither of the two derailments on the main line of the LRT system resulted in injuries. The train in the August derailment was already out of service because workers had detected a problem. The train in the September derailment had 12 passengers and one operator.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...vice-review-will-respond-to-tsb-findings

[rocketphish]

No firm date, but Ottawa LRT should relaunch once fixes are made
New training, top-to-bottom inspection of 'critical connections' part of work carried out

Trevor Pritchard · CBC News
Posted: Nov 05, 2021 10:14 AM ET | Last Updated: 1 hour ago


The independent firm hired to approve the return-to-service plan for Ottawa's light rail network says it's confident the LRT system can safely relaunch once their recommendations are met, but there's still no specific date when that will happen.

Philadelphia-based consultants Transportation Resource Associates (TRA) outlined the work that's been done and still needs to be done by the Confederation Line's builder, Rideau Transit Group (RTG), at a lengthy technical briefing Friday.

The line has been shut down since Sept. 19 when a train derailed near Tremblay Station. While no one was injured, it was also the second derailment in six weeks.

TRA gave councillors and members of the transit commission a rundown Friday of both the short-term and long-term "mitigations" that would need to be fulfilled by RTG before the line partially resumes service — something the city hopes will happen by mid-November.

Mayor Jim Watson said at the start of the briefing the specific relaunch date would only be announced one or two days before it actually happened.

Since the September derailment was a result of improper maintenance leading to incorrectly torqued bolts, one short-term fix involves a train-by-train inspection of "all critical connections from the roof all the way down through the wheels," said TRA's Daniel Hauber.

That had already been done for all trains set to re-enter service, Hauber said.

Another fix involved retraining operators to give them "situational awareness" of a potential derailment, Hauber said in his presentation.

Since the shutdown, sometimes-crowded replacement buses have carried passengers who'd normally be taking the Confederation Line.

Maintenance crews began to test the trains on the line again on Oct. 27, with regular service simulated this week. Full service with 15 trains would return in mid-December under the city's timeline.

While crews detected problems with several trains during a mock run, and removed them, TRA representatives reassured this was a normal part of any testing process.

"We want everyone to err on the side of caution," said president and CEO Kenneth Korach.

"This is the time … to really focus on the little things," Korach said. "Perhaps in other situations or in other environments you'd say, 'well, it's a minor thing.' In this case, we're saying take [the trains] out of service, let's examine it thoroughly."

New OC Transpo head Renée Amilcar said those problems were connected to "vibrations," and more investigation would be needed.

More to come.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-lrt-derail-service-briefing-update-1.6238211

[rocketphish]

Trains going through 'roof-to-wheels' hardware inspection before heading back to service

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 05, 2021 • 12 minutes ago • 4 minute read

A roof-to-wheels inspection of critical hardware connections on the Alstom Citadis Spirit fleet will happen before trains enter service, but the city on Friday still didn’t have an exact date for the return of the Confederation Line.

While the city still believes partial LRT service will return by the middle of the month, no train will be welcoming customers again until a city-hired transportation consultant is satisfied by the quality control process in Rideau Transit Group’s (RTG) maintenance division.

The consultant, Philadelphia-based Transportation Resource Associates (TRA), has experts in Ottawa literally looking over the shoulders of maintenance staff to make sure key hardware assemblies are proper, safe and documented.

Ken Korach, president and CEO of TRA, said RTG is very aware of the seriousness of the maintenance issues as the contractor goes through simulated LRT service to test the trains and track infrastructure.

“We think it’s going in the right place,” Korach said during a briefing. He said returning partial service by the middle of the month is “doable.”

The train parts aren’t the problem; the needed improvements are in maintenance processes and quality control, TRA experts said.

For one, there needs to be a better working relationship between RTG and its subcontractors.

“It is not as cohesive or integrated as we would have expected or would have liked,” Korach said.

When those areas get better, the challenge for the city will be making sure RTG and main subcontractor Alstom sustain the improved maintenance regime after TRA leaves Ottawa.

The Confederation Line has been out of commission since the last derailment on Sept. 19.

The Transportation Safety Board learned 12 bolts on a wheel hub weren’t torqued properly in the shop before the train re-entered service. The train car that derailed had been receiving work on a wheel assembly, which was identified in a fleet-wide inspection following the Aug. 8 derailment of a different train car near Tunney’s Pasture.

The TSB urged the city to complete a review of all work on “safety-critical components.”

The TRA experts are essentially doing that job, with close attention on the reasons for the two derailments.

In the Aug. 8 derailment, an overheated axle bearing assembly led to a severed wheel.

RTG is assessing the potential for installing a heat-detection system to monitor the temperature of the bearings. TRA is interested in what RTG decides by end of the year, but TRA experts said it’s not as simple as installing an off-the-shelf product.

For now, TRA is content with a short-term inspection regime that happens every 7,500 kilometres (about every two or three weeks) that checks the bearings.

As for the September derailment, TRA’s root-cause analysis aligns with the TSB’s conclusion that bolts weren’t tightened, leading to a gearbox breaking off the train.

As for the fixes to the track infrastructure, workers are running trains over that area of the corridor near Tremblay Station to make sure the repairs were done right.

All LRT operations staff have received refreshers on training.

RTG and the the city have been simulating real LRT service with seven trains on the line as part of the test runs before welcoming back customers.

Some trains cars were already removed from testing “out of an abundance of caution” to check vibrations on the vehicles, according to Transpo chief safety officer Brandon Richards.

RTG is looking into the causes.

Korach, who repeatedly stressed the importance of addressing minor issues to avoid major problems, said it’s a positive development that LRT technicians flagged the vibrations, noting that the same level of scrutiny at the maintenance shop was absent six weeks ago.

TRA will continue monitoring the LRT system when the partial service begins and when the full service comes back. TRA hasn’t yet assessed if RTG is capable of maintaining the full 17 double-car train program with its current resources.

TRA isn’t asked to review the details of the public-private partnership agreement to maintain the LRT system. Korach said TRA is only tasked with reviewing safety in the LRT system’s return to service, but he said it would be “worthwhile” to have contract issues examined.

Meanwhile, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279, which is Transpo’s largest union, criticized the city for contracting out LRT maintenance rather than having the work in-house. RTG, through it’s maintenance division Rideau Transit Maintenance, has a 30-year LRT maintenance agreement with the city.

City manager Steve Kanellakos said it’s “a very simplistic argument and position,” considering the complex contractual relationship the city has with RTG. The solution is making sure RTG improves its maintenance regime, not bringing LRT maintenance in-house, Kanellakos said.

According to Kanellakos, Transpo general manager Renée Amicar has suggested that the city replicate TRA’s expertise in overseeing LRT.

Amilcar apologized to customers who have been late for work, missed appointments and waited longer for buses because of the out-of-order LRT system.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...nspection-before-heading-back-to-service

[rocketphish]

A train-load of skepticism greets the latest LRT update
If Friday's briefing on the return of LRT service was meant to reassure a dubious public, it didn't reach the station.

Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 05, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 4 minute read

If Friday’s briefing on the return of LRT service was meant to reassure a dubious public, it didn’t reach the station.

Neither did it answer the city’s main question — though, to be fair, it wasn’t on the table — what in-the-name-of-anything-holy is wrong with our light-rail system?

The three-hour affair often dripped with skepticism from councillors who were unconvinced that a consulting firm parachuted into town from Philadelphia can stop a run of problems that have made Ottawa’s $2.2-billion rail system a civic embarrassment.

Though executives from the firm, TRA, were “diplomatic” — possibly to a fault — it was evident that, two years after the system opened, Rideau Transit Group and its maintenance arm are still getting their act together. (Isn’t that a news flash?)

Transit commissioner Michael Olsen possibly came closest to putting his finger on the problem when he asked TRA if the main issue was the working relationship between RTG and its “constituent parts,” which include Alstom, the French train maker, and other sub-contractors.

“I think that is fair to say,” said TRA president Kenneth Korach, who earlier said they’ve had some “uncomfortable conversations” with RTG, who have a 30-year contract with the city to maintain the trains and the 12.5-kilometre line.

It was also worrisome to hear that, of the seven train sets being tested this week, five had to be taken out of service “immediately” — though it appears the problem with four of them was minor. (It just warms the heart, doesn’t it?)

Despite those speed bumps, both the city and independent evaluators TRA believe the system could be up and running — though at about half capacity — in roughly 10 days.

The consultants were brought in to examine the causes of two derailments, Aug. 8 and Sept. 19, and to review the back-to-service plan put together by Rideau Transit Group and its maintenance arm.

Though the causes have been determined, some councillors weren’t satisfied the experts have found the right solutions.

“I’m not coming out of this with any more confidence,” said Coun. Catherine McKenney, who is still calling for a judicial inquiry into the procurement and operation of the city’s most costly infrastructure project.

“I don’t think we can trust RTG to do the right thing.”

Coun. Jeff Leiper wondered how a train — loaded with so much technology it can drive itself — doesn’t have a derailment warning system, as evidenced by the alarming Sept. 19 episode near Tremblay Station.

An investigation determined that a set of wheels was off the rails for several hundred metres, even as the train crossed a bridge over a busy thoroughfare.

“I’m really concerned with putting the trains back in service if we don’t have a system that tells us if a train has derailed,” Leiper said.

The answer from the experts is that a better, more rigorous maintenance system should catch the little problems before they compound into a catastrophic event. The September derailment, for instance, was traced to a series of bolts that were not properly tightened on a gear box, leading the vital piece of equipment to fall off.

Neither was there a magic solution to the Aug. 8 derailment at Tunney’s Pasture in which an out-of-service train slightly left the track after a bearing broke.

Coun. Diane Deans wanted to know if the trains should be equipped with detectors — thermal or otherwise — that would alert the operator if the bearing was under stress. (RTM is currently looking at technologies that might be adapted and may have an answer by the end of the year.)

Instead, the trains are to undergo inspections every 7,500 kilometres, or every two or three weeks, done visually and with a pry bar and gauge to determine if there is too much play in the bearing.

It was, in the end, a gloomy update. Through all the fancy language about “Safety Management Systems” and monitoring this and supervising that, an impression was left that RTG is a company that needs constant babysitting, otherwise shortcuts will be taken and critical checks left undone.

“When you’re here,” commissioner Sarah Wright-Gilbert said of the three-member TRA team at the briefing, “we’ve got parental supervision.”

And there were questions about whether the city, which has never been in the train business, has the right technical staff to supervise the maintenance regime on a highly complex piece of infrastructure.

We farmed out, after all, the core of an essential service — and isn’t the day of reaping upon us?

To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-291-6265 or email [email protected]
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-skepticism-greets-the-latest-lrt-update

[swimmer_spe]

So, when it returns to full service, can it run continuously till the next phase opens?

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

It was, in the end, a gloomy update. Through all the fancy language about “Safety Management Systems” and monitoring this and supervising that, an impression was left that RTG is a company that needs constant babysitting, otherwise shortcuts will be taken and critical checks left undone.

“When you’re here,” commissioner Sarah Wright-Gilbert said of the three-member TRA team at the briefing, “we’ve got parental supervision.”

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

So, when it returns to full service, can it run continuously till the next phase opens?

Bad Day.

Depends on whether you believe that the maintenance will be done PROPERLY !

And therein lies the indictment and the conviction.

IMHO - GUILTY !

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

So, when it returns to full service, can it run continuously till the next phase opens?

That seems to be beyond hope.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

That seems to be beyond hope.

I don’t know. It all depends if RTG can get their act together. TRA have found significant deficiencies but nothing that can’t be fixed. The question is are RTG willing to do everything that is needed. I would like to see the city bring TRA back in a few months for a followup.